Keeneland’s 2024 Spring Meet to celebrate historic anniversary and record racing purses
The 2024 Keeneland Spring Meet will be highlighted not only by record-setting purses but by the 100th running of the Lexington racetrack’s major Kentucky Derby prep race.
In year 150 for the Kentucky Derby, Keeneland Race Course will host the 100th running of the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes. The $1 million race for 3-year-olds on the road to the Triple Crown is scheduled for April 6, the second day of the track’s 16 days of racing from April 5-26.
The 2024 Keeneland Spring Meet boasts $8.1 million in purses for 19 stakes races, a record monetary total for the track’s first of two meets each year.
The Blue Grass has been held at Keeneland since the track’s first Spring Meet in April 1937. The 1 1/8-mile race was inaugurated in 1911 at the Kentucky Association track located near downtown Lexington and was run there through 1914 and again from 1919 to 1926.
Following the closure of the Kentucky Association track, the Blue Grass was continued at Keeneland and has been won by such Hall of Famers as Bimelech (1940), Coaltown (1948), Round Table (1957), Northern Dancer (1964), Arts and Letters (1969), Riva Ridge (1972), Alydar (1978), Spectacular Bid (1979), Holy Bull (1994) and Skip Away (1996).
The Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes offers 200 qualifying points for contestants on the road to the Kentucky Derby, distributed with 100 going to the winner, then 50, 25, 15 and 10 for the next four places.
The Blue Grass is the first of two Kentucky Derby points races during the Spring Meet. The second, the $400,000, Grade 3 Stonestreet Lexington on April 13, is the final prep race of the qualifying season. Points will run 20-10-6-4-2 for the top five finishers.
The first day of next year’s Spring Meet is anchored by the 86th running of the Central Bank Ashland for 3-year-old fillies, a qualifying race of 1 1/16 miles for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. Points will be distributed on a scale of 100-50-25-15-10.
“Lucrative purses and outstanding competition make Keeneland’s Spring Meet a highlight of the racing calendar for horsemen, horseplayers and fans during the first half of the year,” Keeneland vice president of racing Gatewood Bell said in a news release Monday. “We look forward to hosting the country’s best horses and their connections here in April.”
2024 Keeneland Spring Meet stakes schedule
April 5: $600,000, Grade 1 Central Bank Ashland for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.
April 5: $400,000, Grade 3 Transylvania for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles (turf).
April 5: $400,000 Lafayette for 3-year-olds at 7 furlongs.
April 6: $1 million, Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles.
April 6: $600,000, Grade 1 Madison for fillies and mares 4 and older at 7 furlongs.
April 6: $400,000, Grade 2 Appalachian Presented by Japan Racing Association for 3-year-old fillies at 1 mile (turf).
April 6: $350,000, Grade 2 Shakertown for 3-year-olds and up at 5½ furlongs (turf).
April 6: $300,000, Grade 3 Commonwealth for 4-year-olds and up at 7 furlongs.
April 7: $400,000, Grade 2 Beaumont Presented by Keeneland Select for 3-year-old fillies at 7 furlongs, 184 feet.
April 7: $250,000, Listed Palisades for 3-year-olds at 5½ furlongs (turf).
April 12: $600,000, Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile for 4-year-olds and up at 1 mile (turf).
April 12: $250,000, Listed FanDuel Limestone for 3-year-old fillies at 5½ furlongs (turf).
April 13: $600,000, Grade 1 Jenny Wiley for fillies and mares 4 and older at 1 1/16 miles (turf).
April 13: $400,000, Grade 3 Stonestreet Lexington for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.
April 13: $300,000 Giant’s Causeway for fillies and mares 3 and older at 5 ½ furlongs (turf).
April 19: $300,000, Grade 3 Baird Doubledogdare for fillies and mares 4 and older at 1 1/16 miles.
April 20: $350,000, Grade 2 Elkhorn for 4-year-olds and up at 1½ miles (turf).
April 20: $300,000, Grade 3 Ben Ali for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles.
April 26: $300,000, Grade 3 Bewitch for fillies and mares 4 and older at 1½ miles (turf).